response to the crisis in syria. i believe a political transition to a government that reflects the will of the syrian people is also the core national security interests of the united states in the region. moreover this change would align with our values supporting the democratic process, the basic rights and freedom that should be enjoyed by all people regardless of religion, ethnicity or gender. over the course of the last 20 months the assad regime has unleashed a barrage of unspeakable terror across the country with the sole aim of remaining in power. just hearing in the last couple days, more urgently about weapons of mass destruction and what that could mean. more than 40,000 syrians have been killed, cal was have been injured. refugees surged into neighboring turkey, jordan, lebanon and iraq taxing the limits of those countries and creating a regional crisis. assad's escalation of violence has reached the point where fighter jets have been used to kill civilians according to human-rights watch. hard to compre